Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN!
Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2015.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - The Best 2009 Genealogy Moment

Hey, it's Saturday Night - time for some Genealogy Fun!! I know - you had a great time on New Year's Eve, and are just recovering from the holidays, so we'll keep this one pretty easy.

Here is your assignment, if you choose to accept it (frankly, I've noticed that SNGF participation has dropped off in the last month - why? Too much eggnog? Too much work? What?):

1) "What was your best Genealogy Moment during 2009?" This could be a research find, a fabulous trip, a found family treasure, etc. Your choice!2) Tell us about it in a blog post of your own, a comment to this blog post, or a comment to the Twitter or Facebook status line for this post.

1. Attending the "Bloggers day" at Ancestry.com in Provo, Utah in January (Day 1, Day 2a,Day 2b,Day 2c,Day 3, Day 4), including the tours, the dinners, and the meetings with Ancestry.com staff and executives, and having fun with the SLIG planners. I really appreciated the invitation (not being one of the "elite" in genealogy circles) and the opportunity to become acquainted with the company and the staff.

The Ancestry.com people and visit were great, but the longlasting memory is of meeting some of my TGSG and ProGen colleagues and many other genealogists - who were on the FGS Board, were the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) planners, or were attending SLIG. I especially loved meeting Pat Richley, who picked Dick Eastman and I up on Thursday night and shared dinner with us and several other "genealogy goddesses." On Sunday, Pat and the SLIG folks invited me to a wonderful brunch at my hotel and I had a great time meeting and sharing with a lot of really neat people! On Sunday night, I went to dinner with the TGSG group organized by ChristyFillerup. Meeting other genealogists is one of the best experiences I have, and I encourage every reader to go to conferences or seminars and meet people. You never know who might be a distant ocusin!

16 comments:

Nancy
said...

My best genealogy moment (I call it an "Aha" moment), was finding proof of the sibling relationship between my great-grandmother and her brother. An article found in a news archive confirmed my suspicions. I am new to reading your blog, Randy, and I enjoy it a lot. It is always nice to find fellow addicts!

"Yes, a young girl named Ruth was adopted from this children's home by Fred & Mabel McCall in 1909. According to the records, her father, Charles Hickman, left her and her brothers here, his wife deceased, and no home to raise them in."

Ruth was my wife's grandmother, and until that moment, no family members had any information about Ruth's birth name and family. This information opened up new lines, and many e-mails with a newly found cousin.Copies of the record cards from that children's home were e-mailed to me.

Oh the irony; the saddest time of 2009 for me was the death of my dear sister - and my best genealogy moment was being presented with a family photo album (that I didn't even know she had) by her son, who stated that he believed those pictures should be preserved by "The Family Genealogist." The joy of discovering those pages held photos of my long dead parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and extended family - and all labeled and dated!!

Following your lead (and Lisa's), I posted a "Top 10 Genealogy Moments of 2009" (http://gretabog.blogspot.com/2010/01/top-10-genealogy-moments-of-2009.html), and #1 was getting in touch with my younger brother, whom I had last seen as a baby 37 years ago.

My best genealogy moment during 2009 was making contact online with a gentleman in the Netherlands about my husband's elusive Veenker/Von Hebel ancestors. He provided me with information on a couple more generations of Veenkers and quite a few more generations of Von Hebels. I still need to return the favor by sending him some information on family members who came to America, and their descendants. I'd entered that info & what I got from him on my computer during the first week of Nov. I thought I did a backup to my flash drive but I guess I hit the wrong button. Then there was a snafu that messed up my database & when I went to back it up from the flash drive all I had was up until March 2009. I had lost everything I put in since then, it's all on paper but still it will take some time to re-enter. That was my WORST genealogy moment of the year.

Best moment was going to the vital records office in a small Italian town to try to break a 12 year old brick wall - no none knew anything about grandfather's family - the wonderful gentleman who helped us turned out to be a relative! And our wall tumbled backwards 4 generations in the blink of an eye and a smile!Bonnie (valentinoswife)

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About Me

I am a native San Diegan, a graduate of San Diego State University, a retired aerospace engineer, a genealogist and a family guy.
My wife (Angel Linda) and I have two lovely daughters, and four darling grandchildren. We love to visit them and have them visit us.
Angel Linda and I love to travel to visit friends and relatives, to sightsee, to cruise or to do genealogy. Our travels have taken us all over the USA, to England, Down Under and Scandinavia.
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Contact me via email at randy.seaver@gmail.com